Student Memorandum of Understanding

Transcription

1 Student Memorandum of Understanding This memorandum of understanding (MOU) is an agreement between Zaytuna Farm and you for your time at the institute demonstration site in Australia, Zaytuna Farm. Zaytuna Farm is the facilitator of the seventy-two hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), as well as other courses in permaculture training, held at the farm site in The Channon, Australia. Zaytuna Farm agrees to provide instruction in permaculture design according to the guidelines set out by The Permaculture Institute, Tasmania, resulting in a Permaculture Design Certificate upon the student s completion of the full seventy-two hour course and the design presentation. Certificates for other permaculture courses will be distributed by Geoff Lawton on behalf of Zaytuna Farm The following document presents the provisions, expectations, professional and safety standards given and requested by Zaytuna Farm for the duration of the course presented. 1 - Education 1.1 PRI offers multi-day live-in workshops as advertised on the website. Students will receive thorough training in the workshop of which they have signed up and paid to attend. In the case of the Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), the course will be presented as the full 72-hour training according to the guidelines set by The Permaculture Institute, Tasmania. Other workshops will be presented as set by the curriculums of the lead teachers. 1.2 Certification will be presented to students having completed the full course. In the case of the PDC, students participation in the full 72-hour training along with the design presentation will result in the presentation of a Permaculture Design Certificate. Other workshops will result in a certificate offered by Geoff Lawton, founder of PRI and Zaytuna Farm, or the head teacher of the course. 1.3 Students are expected to participate in all sessions, and at a minimum 90% of the course, in order to receive certification. 2 - Payment and Refund Policy 2.1 Students are expected to have paid for any course in full before commencement of the course. 2.2 All payment and refund policy terms and conditions are clearly outlined online ( and students are expected to have read and agreed to these terms before commencement of the course. 2.3 If a student needs to cancel a course for whatever reason, the following refund conditions apply: - If notified at least 14 days prior to the course commencement, Zaytuna Farm will refund your course fee but will deduct an administration fee of 10% OR the full amount can be applied as credit towards a future course. Refunds can take between 7-30 days to process. - If notified less than 14 days prior to the course Zaytuna Farm will not provide a refund. Someone else may be sent in your place if you notify us of the changes. - Once the course has commenced no refunds whatsoever will be available. - If Zaytuna Farm is forced to cancel a course due to low attendance or unforeseen circumstances you will immediately receive a full refund.

2 3 - Camping 3.1 Camping or parking space for campervans, etc. for all students is provided by Zaytuna Farm. This area is located on the lightglobe ridge and there are a limited number of camping platforms available. The camping platforms are on a first-come, first-serve basis and not guaranteed for all students. Please see a member of staff or a long-term student for directions on where to set up camp. 3.2 Students are welcome to arrive at any time on the day prior to the commencement of the workshop. If for any reason students need or want to arrive earlier than one day before the course this is only possible through prior arrangement with Zaytuna Farm Management Team, please contact office@permaculturenews.org for arrangement. 3.3 A $50 deposit is required for camping on-site which will be collected by staff or long-term students. We have a leave no trace policy and the deposit will be returned once the site is assessed for cleanliness after pack up. 3.4 Students are required to provide all their own accommodation needs. We are unable to provide anything in the form of tents or bedding to any students. Please prepare accordingly for the season. 3.5 Anything left behind on site will be held for a maximum of 4 weeks and will then be disposed of. Please ensure you take everything with you when you leave as we will not be responsible for storing personal belongings for the long term. 4 - Meals and Drinking Water 4.1 During the period of the course three meals a day will be provided along with a basic morning and afternoon tea. Meal times are dependant on the course and will be stated at the orientation introduction on the first day of the course. 4.2 There will be no meals provided on weekends and students are responsible for their own needs. Any produce left on the benches in the common kitchen is available for use, and students are able to bring their own food for cooking in our kitchen. 4.3 Meat and vegetarian meals will be provided. Vegetarian meals will be indicated and, at times, are specifically reserved for those students who have indicated themselves as having a vegetarian diet. We cannot cater for any further special diet requirements and if you have special needs you are expected to provide for yourself. 4.4 Filtered rainwater is provided from specially marked taps both in the dining area and inside in the commons kitchen. All other taps in the commons and the bathrooms is unfiltered rainwater. Any taps not attached to a building is dam water used for irrigation DO NOT DRINK. 4.5 No pork products can be used in our kitchens. This is to honor religious sensitivities. 5 - Showers, Toilets & Laundry 5.1 The shower and toilet block is located next to the commons and is available to use for all students. Guidelines for use are posted inside the bathrooms, however please: Remove shoes on the ramp before stepping onto the deck After using the toilet please place give a few sprays from the bottle and 2 handfuls of mulch into the toilet from the bucket provided. Please ALWAYS leave the toilet seat down when not in use. - Limit showers to no longer than 5 minutes. A course generally has a lot of participants and we are on rain water supply which can get quite low in the dry seasons. Use only what you need to wash.

3 - Clean after yourself. There are squeegees provided outside on the deck to pull out excess water, and brooms to sweep if necessary. - Do not leave any personal items in the bathrooms. They are cleaned daily and all items left in the bathrooms will be added to the lost and found box on the deck in the commons. The lost and found box will be emptied every Friday. - Ensure to switch off lights when leaving the bathroom. 5.2 The laundry is available for washing. It takes $4 per washing load and is cold wash only. Please be considerate when washing and check with a member of staff or a long term student before using as the machine runs on rain water and solar power. The washing machine cannot be used on cloudy days or at times of water scarcity. There is also a laundromat available at the General Store in The Channon. 6 - Common Area 6.1 The common area and classroom, which is the three shipping containers, is open and available for students use for the duration of the course. The commercial kitchen, however, is out of bounds unless invited in to assist in cleaning after the dinner meal. 6.2 During class time everyone is requested to be quiet and considerate around the commons. 6.3 Wifi is available for students use, however due to limited bandwidth we request that students switch the wifi off on their devices while not in use. Our staff and long-term students need access to the internet throughout the day and this can be jammed by too many users signed on at once. 6.4 The common kitchen is available for student use, however please respect that boxes of food on the shelf and items in the fridge are the personal belongings of long-term students. If you store something in the fridge write your name on it and dispose of when you leave or give to another student. Please keep anything that does not need to be refrigerated in your own personal camping space as our kitchen storage area is limited. 6.5 Our electrical systems are solar based, be mindful of your energy consumption. Aim to charge devices during the middle of the day when the sun is at it s strongest and try to use as little power as possible after dark. Please switch off lights when not in use. 6.6 Bins are clearly marked in the common kitchen and in the dining area. Please read and deposit wastes into the appropriate bin. There is a bin for cooked and left over food scraps that we feed to chickens. There is a bin for fruit and vegetable peels, including coffee and tea bags, that we feed to our worms and there is a general rubbish bin. Recycling bin is out on the deck in front of the common kitchen. Please wash out food containers before recycling. 6.7 Ensure a clean common area by tidying up after yourself. Keep the bench in the indoor area free of personal belongings when not in use and make sure to always wash your dishes and cups when finished and return to the drying area.

4 7 - Professional Standards 7.1 All workshop students are required to stay in the designated area (map included) during the entire course unless accompanied by a member of staff or a long-term student. We are a fully functioning farm and we cannot have people wandering around on their own for safety reasons, and for the necessity of the work we are conducting daily. Our long-term students will be happy to conduct small tours after work hours at times, please ask them if you would like this. The designated area includes the camping ridge, camping platform area, campers lagoon (the dam), the commons, kitchen garden and the carpark. 7.2 We request that all students dress appropriately at all times to honour both the working nature of the farm as well as cultural sensitivities. This means that everyone wears shirts that cover the shoulders and shorts no shorter than just above the knee. Students are to wear closed toe shoes whenever accessing any part of the farm outside of the common or camping areas. 7.3 Zaytuna Farm has a strict zero drug and alcohol policy. Any student found consuming or possessing alcohol or any illicit substance will be asked to leave immediately, no refund will be offered. There is a pub in town if students are in need of a drink, however drunk or disorderly behaviour will not be tolerated and any unacceptable, abusive or disrespectful behaviour will also result in a request to immediately leave the site with no refund. 7.4 Sexual harassment of any kind is not tolerated at Zaytuna Farm and any complaints of unacceptable behaviour will result in a stern warning and in extreme cases a request to leave without refund. Zaytuna Farm discourages casual sexual behaviour between staff, students, volunteers and long-term students in the interest of avoiding problems, conflicts and negative outcomes which could potentially arise. 7.5 Zaytuna Farm is committed to creating an environment in which all members of the community feel safe and secure, free from harassment. Zaytuna Farm will not tolerate any form of racism, sexism, prejudice, violence, aggression or overly arrogant language or behaviour of any kind. Repeated offences will result in being requested to leave without a refund. 8 - Safety Standards 8.1 Any incidents are reported immediately to our first aid operators, who will be identified at the commencement of a course, for the purpose of recording. These instances are: - Any accident of any nature - Only minor injury has been sustained - No actual injury has occurred but there has been a near miss - A potential for injury has been identified 8.2 First aid kits are located in the office at the entrance of the farm, in the common area, in our farm utility vehicle and tractor, and at Geoff and Nadia s house. If you, or another, needs first aid please inform our first aid officer immediately. 8.3 Our emergency assembly point is located in the upper car-park. There is a clearly marked sign in the car-park. In the event of an emergency our staff will inform you to assemble at this point. 8.4 As a large farm with areas of wildlife there are hazards. Australia is host to poisonous snakes, ticks, strong sun, thunderstorms and various thorny and itch-inducing plants. We request that all students dress appropriately when on the farm. This includes closed toed shoes, shorts covering to the mid-thigh, or preferably long pants, shirts covering the shoulders and preferably long-sleeved, wide-brimmed hat and to be equipped with appropriate wet weather gear such as rain jacket and gumboots. 8.5 Students are not to visit any sections of the farm except for the allocated area unless accompanied by a staff member or long-term student.

5 9 - Medical 9.1 Students understand that there are certain hazards or potential for accidents on a farm and agree to abide by all safety rules set forth in the document, as well as any instruction by staff or management. 9.2 If a student has any previously existing conditions, food or drug allergies, or is on prescriptive medication, they should list it on the attached signature page. 9.3 All students are responsible for their own medical insurance and health care, other than basic first aid which can be provided on site. As medications vary from country to country, to ensure that you have what you require during your stay, please ensure that you bring a sufficient supply Media 10.1 Zaytuna Farm will sometimes document courses and events on the farm for the purposes of use on geofflawtononline.com This can be in the form of still photographs or film. Please indicate whether you agree for your image to be used in media material by geofflawtononline.com Please indicate that you agree with these terms or not on that attached signature page Photos and film are available to be taken by students however absolutely no media taken is to be used in any form of commercial, advertising or marketing venture. Use of footage taken on site for personal or commercial profit without the express permission of Zaytuna Farm will be prosecuted as a legal infringement.

6 Name: Please print your name as you would like it given on your certificate Emergency Contact Details Name: Relationship: Contact details ( & phone): Food Preference: No Preference Vegetarian only Media Release: Do you agree to be filmed in the duration of our course for promotional or educational media as decided by geofflawtononline.com I agree I disagree & Phone Contact Details: Phone: Check here if you would like to be added to our mailing list: Signed Agreement:I (your name) have read and agree to the policies outlined in the Zaytuna Farm Student Memorandum of Understanding. I am aware that the policies given in this document hold effective for the entire duration I am on site at Zaytuna Farm. Signed: Date: / /

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